Times Higher Education Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award open for entries

Entries are open for universities to submit applications to determine which institution will be crowned the UK’s most Entrepreneurial University of the Year 2009. We take a look at the criteria for applications and let you know how to put your University forward for this prestigious award.

The Entrepreneurial University of the Year is one category in the Times Higher Education (THE) Award and is sponsored by the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE).

Details of THE Award categories are available from www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/hybrid.asp?typeCode=340&;pubCode=1&;navcode=98142

The Award recognises an institution that has embedded innovation and entrepreneurial activity into its fabric to the extent that its environment and culture not only fosters enterprising thinking amongst all members of its community but also delivers significant entrepreneurial impact at regional, national and international levels.

The criteria for the Award focus on four main areas:

• Institutional Environment: explores how an institution’s culture has been transformed to provide environments for supporting student enterprise and graduate entrepreneurship and how leadership for driving enterprise and entrepreneurship is demonstrated.
• Student Engagement: explores how students and graduates apply the entrepreneurial behaviors and mindsets they learn from an institution’s entrepreneurship offerings and whether such experiences enhance a positive attitude toward enterprise and entrepreneurship as a future career choice is also examined.
• Innovative and Entrepreneurial Staff: explores how innovation and growth are demonstrated by staff in the design and delivery of an institution’s enterprise and entrepreneurship offerings and identifies how staff are rewarded and incentivised for developing excellence in practice.
• Entrepreneurial Impact: explores how an institution’s efforts have affected the nature of entrepreneurial outcomes for staff, students and graduates; what step-changes have been achieved in the delivery of regional and national entrepreneurship goals; how the institution captured and demonstrated good practice and effectiveness; and ways in which the institution’s experiences influenced policy or practice elsewhere.

Those interested in applying for the Award are asked to identify their principle achievements during the academic year 2008-2009 and summarise in 500 words what they were trying to achieve and how they set about achieving it and how their goals were met.

The deadline for entries is 5th June 2009 with short listed universities being announced in July. Winners will be announced at a dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on 15 October 2009.

The first winner of the Award in 2008 was the University of Nottingham with Coventry University being ‘highly commended’ in the category.

From l-r: Ian Robertson, Chief Executive of the NCGE, Professor Martin Binks, Director of the University of Nottingham’s Institute for Enterprise and Innovation, Nottingham Vice-Chancellor Professor David Greenaway, Charlotte Matthew, President of the University’s winning SIFE team, Reena Chandar, Vice-President of the SIFE team, and Melanie Duck from TSL, the Times Higher’s parent company.

Professor Paul Hannon, the NCGE’s Director of Research and Education, who visited the shortlisted universities said:

“From the Vice-Chancellor, to Professor Martin Binks and his team at the University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation (UNIEI), all the way to the student body and Nottingham’s SIFE Team, which won last year’s national competition – the University excelled in every area of entrepreneurship, showing depth and breadth throughout.

Click here http://ncge.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/entrepreneurial-university-of-the-year-announced/ to view the NCGE news story relating to last year’s Entrepreneurial University of the Year.